Free competition and recuperation of companies in crisis (Between economic efficiency and social commitment)

Abstract

This study falls squarely in the heart of the traditional argument between liberal lines of thinking that firmly believe that competition itself generates maximum economic and social efficiency (a growing trend), with no need for correcting interventions, and the lines of thinking that claim the presence of regulating values such as fairness and social solidarity in a legal regulation of markets (a declining trend). Thus, reflecting the analysis of American and European experiences, this doctrinal contribution endeavours to clarify whether the Law of competition admits or not that grouping of companies could work as “anti–crisis” measures in exceptional circumstances, as saviours of ruinous companies on the point of disappearing from the market; and if in these exceptional cases what would be reasonable and appropriate is that the Antitrust Law make their disciplinary and repressive mechanisms more flexible, given the healthy aims of recuperation on the part of companies persecuted for these operations, and the resulting beneficial social consequences for workers and investors in the companies involved and, in the end, for everyone concerned.